In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

RIP Ben E. King: "R&B and soul singer Ben E King, best known for the classic song Stand By Me, has died at the age of 76." His voice is one of my favorite all-time voices. "Stand by Me" is my favorite among his tracks, but there are so many good ones: "This Magic Moment," "I Who Have Nothing," "Save the Last Dance for Me." Goosebumps.

[Content Note: Sexual assault] Jameis Winston, the accused rapist who is such a terrific football player that no one cares if he's a rapist (including the police), went #1 in the NFL draft last night. Fuck everything. My friend Jessica Luther has covered the sexual assault allegations against Winston for Vice Sports and RH Reality Check, if you're looking for solid background.

[CN: War on agency] The Satanic Temple is at it again: "A Missouri Satanist plans to challenge her state's 72-hour waiting period for abortions by claiming the delay violates her religious beliefs. The woman, identified only as Mary by her local Satanic Temple, said she regards the waiting period as 'a state sanctioned attempt to discourage abortion' and plans to challenge the law on religious grounds... The waiting period places an 'unnecessary burden' on her religious belief that her body is subject to her will alone, she said. 'The waiting period interferes with the inviolability of my body and thereby imposes an unwanted and substantial burden on my sincerely held religious beliefs,' she said." Right on.

[CN: Police brutality] There is some debate about the efficacy of police body cameras, for a bunch of reasons, not least of which are that cops can just turn them off and that even being caught on camera has been no guarantee of violence prevention or legal accountability, but: "The Obama administration is spending $20 million on police body cameras, amid rising tension over police violence. The announcement from the Justice Department on Friday would create a new pilot program to equip police in dozens of cities with the devices, as the first step in a $75 million three-year effort that President Obama requested from Congress in December." Welp, let's see if it makes a damn bit of difference.

I love this: "The most powerful man in the world wants to return to community organizing after he hands over the keys to the White House in 2017, President Obama told middle-school students at a public library in Washington's Anacostia neighborhood today. 'I'll be done being president in a couple of years and I'll still be a pretty young man,' he said. 'And so I'll go back to doing the kinds of work I was doing before, just trying to find ways to help people.'"

[CN: Surveillance] The Electronic Frontier Foundation has concerns about the reintroduction of the bipartisan USA Freedom Act, which is "an attempt to rein in the intelligence community's 'Collect It All' strategy," but still says it's a step in the right direction.

[CN: Environmental destruction; animal endangerment] A new study, which is "the most comprehensive look yet at the impact of climate change on biodiversity loss" to date, has found that "one in six of the planet's species will be lost forever to extinction if world leaders fail to take action on climate change." Fuck.

I love these superhero heels, but they are definitely only for those among us who can do reeeeeally high heels!

[CN: Image of beetle at link] Headline of the Day: "This beetle's butt is basically a machine gun."

And finally! A stray pitbull is found nursing a kitten on the side of the road, so they are rescued together. Now rescuers are hoping they can be placed together in a forever home. ♥